In much of Western occultism, including Paganism and Wicca, the four elements of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth describe the universe and everything in it.

Everything can be understood as taking part in one or more element. Everything that is whole contains all four, and can be understood more deeply by dividing it into four, and viewing it through that lens. The elements are the building blocks of creation; they are the beginning of things. The undifferentiated void that preceded creation had no elements; or, to put it another way, all elements were One. But creation-things, reality-consists of the elements.

From a scientific point of view, the periodic table of the elements describes the building blocks of the universe, and the modern magician doesn't reject science. But from a magical point of view, both simplicity and symbolism call for only four elements.

The four elements give us a way of thinking about the world. They give us a structured approach to knowing the unknowable. They provide us with a system of interrelations; and magic is all about interrelations. Have you ever heard of "sympathetic magic"? If you've heard of a Voodoo doll or poppet, you have. Sympathetic magic means that something that is like a thing (has sympathy with a thing) is the thing. A doll is like the person it represents; therefore it is that person. That's interrelationship-sympathy. A doll is an obvious, direct representation, like drawing a picture. Other sympathetic objects are parts of the original.

The well-known stereotype of Witches using fingernail clippings in a spell is an example of sympathetic magic; the part (the clippings) has sympathy with the whole (the person). There are all manner of direct and indirect sympathies that interconnect us. Elemental things have an indirect sympathy with each other. A candle is not the same as a lion, but both represent Fire and therefore have sympathy with each other. These interrelationships add to our understanding of the universe around us.

The Qualities of the Elements

Earth

Finally, we reach Earth. In nature, well, Earth is nature. Earth is the substance of the body of our Mother, Gaia, the Earth Herself. Earth is manifest in all things that are solid, or fertile, or both, including rocks, green fields, rolling hills, and soil. Caves and other buried places are quintessentially Earthy. Most people consider the bear the animal of Earth, although pigs, boar, and cattle also belong to this element. Bulls are an important Earth symbol, both because of their Earthy nature and because they are associated with the astrological sign Taurus. So, astrologically, goats are Earth as well, since they are associated with Capricorn. Also, humans drink milk from both cows and goats. Although all beverages are associated with Water, if one was to choose an Earth beverage, it would surely be milk.

A human being's Earth is her body. From Earth comes solidity, stability, and commitment. We call Earth our home, both the home of all life that is Mother Earth, and the house or apartment we live in. By extension, Earth is hearth and family and all those qualities that make us feel "at home." To be an earthy person is to be pragmatic, realistic, and tactile. Good Earth qualities in a person make her "the salt of the earth," but an excess of negative Earth qualities make her a "stick-in-the-mud." Earth is that deep, solid, immobile place, both in the negative sense of stubborn and in the positive sense of patient. The Witches' Pyramid describes this quality in the attribute "To Be Silent."

Earth is located in the north and is associated with midnight-because north is opposite the noon of south and because subterranean places are dark. Winter is in the north-the coldness of midnight, the coldness of deep soil, and the stillness and silence of waiting for spring. To be solid is to be patient and to hold still. Contrarily, Earth is also fertility-pregnancy, fruit, the physical manifestation of our labors. In endeavors, Earth is completion-the finished project-the thing that results. Earth is female and inward-focused.

The colors of Earth are brown and black for soil, and deep green for fertility. Gnomes are the magical creatures said to inhabit the earth, and the Zodiac signs associated with Earth are Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn. The Tarot suit of Earth is Pentacles or Disks, which represent money, that most physical of possessions (since it provides all other physical possessions). Wealth and buried treasure are things of Earth. The elemental tool of Earth also is the Pentacle, which, in Wicca, is a disk or plate with a pentagram inscribed on it. (Some traditions inscribe other symbols as well.) Since a plate also holds food and since food is also of Earth (the physical product that is the outcome of farming; the sustenance of the body), the pentacle is a doubly good symbol (triply good, really, since the pentagram on it represents wholeness).

The representation of Earth on a magical altar is usually salt. Salt is considered an exceptionally magical symbol. It was once used as money, and is also used as a food preservative-preserving the body through winter and driving away harm.